It was 1970 when I was in Grade 5 and I remember one teacher telling us that society was changing and would never be the same again, and she explained why. Because of Credence Clearwater Revival.
I was going through my junk mail folder Wednesday night and discovered a long string of emails from Grade 5 students at one of the Sunshine Coast schools. I won’t mention the school or name the students because I can’t bring myself to present these letters in the fawning, adulatory and unconditionally encouraging way that was no doubt intended.
The letters are about climate change. With natural variations in eloquence and emphasis, the children all make essentially the same points. We have 11 or 12 years to change. Adults aren’t doing enough – or “anything,” according to one student, who added: “The government is ruining our future by burning fossil fuels.” Another one suggests everyone should get free electric cars.
They are clearly regurgitating talking points. Six out of 12 said they don’t want to wind up having to wear gas masks. Half again said they don’t want to have to live on another planet. Of course, virtuous adults involved would say the children are expressing their own opinions, all on their very own.
The children are appealing to you and me and the government to fix things now. Their class is apparently participating in a “school strike” on May 3, a repeat of the March 15 protest in Davis Bay. These strikes draw inspiration and much of their rhetoric from Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager who became instantly famous last year for staging the first school strike for climate and in January was given a platform by the world’s financial elite at Davos.
I’m sure there are activists and others on the Sunshine Coast who think these 11-year-old children are wonderfully motivated and that their teachers are doing an admirable thing by politicizing them this way. Perhaps all their parents agree.
As a parent myself, and as a grandparent, and as a much older version of that kid who was taught that CCR was transforming society forever (and a lot of other rubbish), I have real concerns about subjecting children to political indoctrination, loading them up with fear and righteousness.
Indoctrinating the children is always a characteristic of totalitarian systems.
I worry that’s where we’re headed.
Now I’m going to listen to “Suzie Q.”
